Why should healthcare be a RIGHT of US Citizens?
I have a personal story to add to this discussion, lets look at the problems that may face our fellow Citizens as they seek help in our HealthCare System.
I have ADHD and recently started taking Ritalin, this has seemed to help me focus and get a few more projects completed. Yesterday I went into the office for a routine checkup to get my prescription represcribed, normal business.
At the end of the appointment before receiving my prescription paper I was told that the DEA was cracking down on the offices I visit. I was told that since the DEA is cracking down, they are requiring a Legal Contract to be signed.
I was caught off guard having never handled a Contract Negotiation in the middle of a medical appointment, never the less I was intrigued.
I was informed that in order to continue receiving treatment and the prescription I paid to secure this day I had no choice but to agree to this Legal Contract. I was read this contract and before it was completely read to me I was lead out of the office without my prescription. The portion I was read are as below;
1) This contract stated that I would agree to bring any and all medicines prescribed by any and all doctors to their offices so they could count these medications.
2) The contract stated that I would agree to provide blood and urine at any time for the purpose of monitoring my intake of substances prescribed or otherwise.
3) This contract stated that I would only have 1 pharmacist.
4) This contract stated that I would allow them to openly discuss with my pharmacist myself without listed boundaries.
My objections to this contract prevent me from listing the remain contractual requirements.
As this was read, I had questions about these requirements that the prescribing doctor either could not answer, would not answer or simply did not have enough knowledge of legal ramifications of these requirements.
I had questions on how my HIPPA rights to privacy was protected when I have to bring in medications, discuss treatment plans (dosage and frequency), and give clues or even reveal other health complications that I may want to keep private.
I asked about how my Fundamental Rights were protected being required to give urine, blood, and thusly my DNA, any time they requested, How my right to privacy was protected, how my right to resist unreasonable search and seizure applied to this Contract.
I asked about how my Right to Free Travel could work with this Legal Contract requiring that I have only 1 pharmacist and being on call for blood and urine monitoring and I was told that I would have to work with the office on a “Case By Case Basis” If I wanted to use my Right To Free Travel.
I asked how my Right to Free Association would be protected with this requirement that I use only 1 pharmacist taking away my right to do business with whom I wish, When I wish and Where I wish.
On the topic of being able discuss myself and my medications and treatment plans of all doctors with my pharmacist I again asked how my rights under the HIPPA Act were protected.
I plan to follow up with this office and inquire some additional information, who pays for these REQUIRED blood and urine tests? Am I being exploited to increase the Office’s profits?
I was given no answers, I was given no care that day, I had to quit my medication cold turkey.
What the appointment boiled down to is that they wanted to circumvent the HIPPA Laws and receive information they are not Legally Allowed. They employed strong arm tactics to try to extort a signature from me under duress of loosing my healthcare and medication.
As this Legal Contract was read to me under the guise of having the Authority of the DEA to require these extra rights beyond what the law provides for, I asked for clarification. I asked what Law was passed that allowed this, I was told there was no Law, I asked repeatedly about the DEA’s involvement and I turned out again that the DEA had no interaction with this Legal Contract.
What troubles me is not myself. I take Ritalin to help, it is not a requirement. What troubles me is that I, as a mental healthcare advocate, use the services of a counselor and this is the setting of this closed-door negotiation.
Within these offices are our fellow Americans, Pursuing Happiness. They are looking to better their lives and the lives of those around them. Some of them do not have the highest IQ, some of them do not have clear thought, delusions, paranoia, anxieties, undue fear and worry.
What bothers me is that these Americans are taken, in private, into a closed room without legal representation, told a false story about the DEA wanting to check their medicine, their blood, their urine. They are told that unless they sign this Legal Contract ON THE SPOT they will walk out without their medications.
Why is that a big deal? Some of these patients are taking Anti-Psychotics and other mood-altering drugs that **specifically** warn about the dangers of suddenly stopping the medication and treatment plan. This is putting them and others in direct, well documented dangers, this is a mighty strong pressure to sign the contract in that moment.
What bothers me is the office’s attempt to have their Mental Healthcare patients sign away their Fundamental Rights. As Americans these rights are INALIENABLE and CAN NOT be signed away by contract.
What bothers me is if this office is perpetrating this on their patients, other offices may also. It creates a system where as unless you are willing to give away your rights and sign any contract without You having legal representation you are denied health care services.
What bothers me is that society wants to blame terrorism on Mental Healthcare and at the same time we are placing undue obstacles to Americans receiving the help they need to return to their Pursuit of Happiness.
If mental illness is what causes so many tragedies, what reason is there to create barriers to getting this help?
I will be following up on this to ascertain the legality of the Legal Contract required as it requires you to sign away Fundamental Rights in opposition to Legal Precedent. I will be checking the legality of inferring the power of the DEA to obtain signatures.
As a general rule in life, if someone pulls you into a private room unexpectedly and tells you to sign a Legal Contract on the spot, resist the High-Pressure Tactic. You have a right to review contracts and ask for clarification, you have a right to answers and if the person requiring your signature can not explain the contract or its requirements, I cannot suggest you blindly sign something that NEITHER parties understand.
Honestly, when I left the office, I worried about where I would find my medications again. I worried about how my health and productivity would suffer. In this moment, I realized that my doctor had turned out to be a Drug Dealer. We had left the realm of caring for my good health, we entered a realm where my Drug Dealer told me to do something for their benefit or I lose my supply.
I hope to have a follow up article to this as I try to acquire additional information. I plan to contact the local DEA office to try to verify what the doctor had told me. I have contacted management and requested a meeting to discuss these issues. I am looking up laws to ascertain the legality of the provisions in this contract. I am looking up what it means to sign a contract under duress.
Happy New Year, New Decade. Stay Healthy Out There.
Remember to speak up, voice your concerns, it is the duty of the American Citizen’s to shape the policies we all live by.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK500019/
https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/fundamental_right
Duress: : wrongful and usually unlawful compulsion (as threats of physical violence) that induces a person to act against his or her will : coercion also : the affirmative defense of having acted under duress — see also economic duress — compare necessity, undue influence.
If you have had a similar experience I would love to hear from you.